Friday, February 17, 2012

Chairman speaks out on Whitby Town’s finances

WHITBY Town chairman Graham Manser has written an open letter to the people of the town to address speculation over the club’s long-term financial position.

The Blues lost between £6,000 and £7,000 after the big match at home to FC United of Manchester recently was frozen off, with the game now rearranged for a Wednesday, leading to a lower gate than would be expected on a weekend.

Despite branding the postponement “a disaster” in last Friday’s Gazette, Mr Manser is reassuring everyone connected with Whitby Town FC that the problem is temporary and is urging everyone to pull together to avoid relegation and stay in the EvoStik League’s top tier.

“Firstly can I set everybody’s minds at rest in that there is no long-term problem with the financial health of the club,” said Mr Manser.

“If we are relegated we will have to cut our cloth accordingly.

“Secondly - yes, there is a temporary cash flow problem following from the postponement of the FC United match which is being addressed.

“We will not know the eventual loss until FC return on Wednesday 28 March.

“Let us hope they are pressing for a play-off place as they will bring more supporters.

“If supporters would like to help financially why not join the weekly draw, it is only £1 per week – just contact me.

Mr Manser says he would like to thank everybody who has shown their “well-intentioned if somewhat misplaced” concern.

“We have always enjoyed a very good relationship with the league and you can see from our fixtures that all the long travels are either in autumn or spring.

“There have been suggestions that we should have played FC at home on 10 March but that is a League Cup weekend and FC already have a game.

“To be fair to the league they have given us Burscough away on that day which is very thoughtful.

“I am sure the manager would prefer to play FC at home midweek rather than Burscough away midweek.

“We cannot really expect the league to alter FC’s fixtures to suit a home game for this club.

“Obviously there would be a severe impact on other fixtures in the league and total disruption.

“It was just this club’s bad luck the bad weather struck and we will have to get on with it and solve the problem ourselves.

“I have always said that I am available to discuss anything with anybody at any time and before people jump on bandwagons, I suggest they telephone me to find the full facts.

“Let us put this behind us we need to all pull together to stay in this tremendous league.”

If you have any fund-raising ideas to help Whitby Town Football Club, call Mr Manser on (01947) 605921.